Watching the pope pray amid the rubble of his homeland
A local man discusses the joy and hope in seeing the Holy Father preaching unity and brotherhood in his native Iraq Sarmad Ghazala photographed receiving his first communion in Iraq. The Chaldean Catholic left his native Iraq 27 years ago. (Courtesy Sarmad Ghazala)
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“I was baptized there. My parents were married here. My wife, she was baptized there.”
Ghazala, a member of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Lake Oswego, moved to the United States around age 27 and has lived here ever since.
As the pope traveled through the Middle Eastern country, Ghazala recognized so many places.